Archery – A bow and its arrows

Archery is the practice of using a bow to propel an arrow at a target. It is a long lived sport that began as far as 25 000 years ago. In the ancient times, archery was primarily employed as a means of hunting and as weapon in combat. Many mythical figures – Apollo, Cupid and Wilhelm Tell – were identified to be archers. Not to mention, archery was also one of the earliest sports to join the Olympics in 1900.

In the recent times, the sport’s feature in various blockbuster movies such as The Hunger Games has also contributed to the sport’s rising popularity. Clubs, communities and organizations have also been sprouting across the globe to meet the needs of archery lovers. Now, archery has evolved to become a widely played sport at both recreational and competitive level.

Here are some fun facts of archery:

The term archery was derived from a Latin term, arcus

Live pigeons were used as targets in the archery events at the 1900 Summer Olympics

In the 1904 Olympics, archery was the sole sport that had women’s event.

Archery is the national sport of Bhutan with almost every village having its own archery range

At competitions, archers are required to mark their arrows with their initials

In ancient Tahiti, archery was regarded as a sacred sport. Hence, only the nobles or people with high-ranking could play the sport.

The act of splitting an arrow down the middle via shooting another arrow in its middle is known as “Robin Hood”

When archers aim at a target placed 90 meters away, the target will appear to be the size of a thumbtack held at arm’s length

An avid archery player is known as a toxophilite

The arrow travels at an approximate speed of 240 kilometers per hour when propelled from a bow. Professional archery players can accelerate the arrow up to 320 kilometers per hour

The country that has competed most often in Olympic archery is France while the country that has won the most gold medals in Olympic archery is South Korea.